When you thought it couldn't get any worse in American politics ...

[MindMover]

The Texas GOP Just Nominated a Gay-Hating Conspiracy Theorist for US Senate

On Tuesday, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz walloped the state's lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, to ice the GOP nomination to replace retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. In a place where Democrats haven't won a statewide election since the 1990s, that all but guarantees Cruz will join the world's most deliberative body next January. The Washington Post's Sean Sullivan calls it "a victory for the tea party and national conservatives who lined up behind Cruz even when a surprise win appeared unlikely." This is mostly true, but there's something else that's worth noting about the GOP's fresh young face: For someone with a reputation as an "intellectual force," he holds some pretty out-there views.

He thinks George Soros wants to ban golf: Like many conservatives, Cruz believes that the United States' sovereignty is under assault from an obscure United Nations agreement called Agenda 21. Although Agenda 21 does not have the force of law, right-wingers believe the treaty's sustainable-development precepts will force Americans to live in "hobbit homes" and forcibly relocate residents from rural areas into densely populated urban cores. "Agenda 21 sounds like absolute crazy conspiracy theory nut stuff, but it's not," explains Glenn Beck. As Cruz puts it on his website:

The originator of this grand scheme is George Soros, who candidly supports socialism and believes that global development must progress through eliminating national sovereignty and private property. He has given millions to this project. But he is not the only one promoting this plan; in fact, the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now consists of over 600 cities in the United States.

Agenda 21 attempts to abolish "unsustainable" environments, including golf courses, grazing pastures, and paved roads. It hopes to leave mother earth’s surface unscratched by mankind. Everyone wants clean water and clean air, but Agenda 21 dehumanizes individuals by removing the very thing that has defined Americans since the beginning—our freedom.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/ted-cruz-texas-senate-conspiracy-theories

[elleng]

1. Lesson:

It can ALWAYS get worse.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. Years ago I read The handmaid's Tale.

Excellent fiction I thought.

I never thought that we could visit that dystopian future, but the RW crazies never seem to fail us in new ways to act creepier.

The world Offred is that much closer to us than I had ever anticipated.

[Raven]

2. The Agenda 21 people arrived in my Town last week and virtually

took over its Facebook page. They came in the person of the Regional Director of the John Birch Society and attacked the Town's economic development initiative. They are not only fanatic but basically told the townspeople that they were stupid. They are very rabid and it is disturbing. Their bottom line is that if you don't fall into line with them you are a pinko commie on the take.

I was going to post about this a few days ago but thought you'd think I was imagining this. Guess not.

[freshwest]

5. The John Birch Society, started by the Koch family. They're responsible for most CT in the USA.

[freshwest]

4. Alex Jones has been pushing the Agenda 21 things for years. But what I really want to know is:

What say the Texas Log Cabin Republicans of the man who is going to be their party's candidate? Do they support the GOP so much that his stance doesn't matter?

The guy's dangerous to life and limb. And the connections to Beck, etc... Gosh, it's going to be a terrible time the next years. This is depressing.

[HooptieWagon]

6. OK, every cloud has a silver lining.

Yeah, the guy is a RW nut-job douche bag. A republican is assured of winning the seat, regardless. And whoever won is going to vote in lockstep with the other pukes anyway. But this guy puts the crazy in bat-shit. Any publicity this guy gets just further cements the meme that the pukes are extremists... helps get swing votes in winnable seats. So you Texas Dems can still help the cause... be sure and let everyone you know what a whack-job the guy is; as we Floridians do with Scott.

[sofa king]

7. More silver lining:

First, nobody realizes it yet, but Texas is in play. That is because just last week the Republican Senators from Texas just voted against a middle class tax cut.

The smarter Republicans will soon realize that they can pay themselves by staying home this year, so there's three fewer votes for the GOP right there. Having a slippery eel like Romney at the top of the list helps a lot as well. Having this chump as the undercard will do just as much to inspire Texas Democrats to come out as President Obama will.

So it ain't lost just yet!

Even if the right decision is practically handed to Texans, however, there is still a good chance they won't make it. So having this chump in Washington is the next best thing to winning. You have to be deeply fucking stupid on some levels to be a Tea Party conservative, and even though I've seen this guy described as the "intellectual" of his clan, that is like observing that the one-legged guy at an ass-kicking contest still has three toes.

Stupid Republicans in the Senate are the very same people who ensured this coming landslide by failing to read the expiration dates on the laws they passed--which, you know, is something a responsible adult would likely do if it was his damned job. In groups of people, stupid is a multiplier of less than one, so every new Tea Partier that gets in lowers the overall effectiveness of all Republicans in Congress.

[HooptieWagon]

8. Yep, the more extreme the GOP becomes...

The tighter the noose around their necks. I know several ex-republicans who have already quit the party. We are reading about national republicans complaining publicly the party has become too extreme. Having these yahoos represent the party, and giving them a soap-box and microphone, ultimately will hasten their sinking into irrevelence.

[Zalatix]

9. This new batch of ex-Republicans are treacherous snakes.

They jumped off only after the GOP/TP drove into the center square of the metaphorical 1939 Berlin.

It took that much for them to see sense.

These people still hate the working class, and when the likes of Marc Rubio come to bat, these ex-Republicans will be Republicans again.

[CBHagman]

10. Any chance of an Alaska scenario?

That is, where a three-way race takes place and the tea party is sent packing?

[sofa king]

11. Maybe?

I've been thinking that the GOP has sullied its brand name so badly that the criminals at the top could rather easily jump ship to a third party and leave the teabaggers, snake handlers and klansmen holding the social conservative bag.

If they were going to do it, there seems little reason to do it before the Republican convention. Instead, they would stage a revolution at the convention and use the publicity to draw attention to the new entity, probably centered around Ron Paul and his people at first.

Then Jeb Bush and his boys would make sure to take it over before the next general election.

Jeb would certainly be involved. There are life-without-parole sentences for George and most of his cabinet if his Administration's records are ever made public, and Jeb's chances evaporate if that happens--particularly if all the things he did in Florida in 2000 ever come to light.

He can afford to let President Obama remain in place, because the succeeding President cannot release the records of the previous President.

But after that, the Bush people have to get back in, exactly as Shrub had to steal it to protect his own father. Or they all stand to do time in prison.

That's a tall order. Jeb has to make sure Romney doesn't succeed, repair or split his political party, and lie, cheat, and steal his way into the White House in 2016. A third party without his brother's shit all over it would be one thing that could be done which would take care of all of those things.

[lame54]

12. When haven't they?